Apparatus for wetting skip car charges



Oct. 3l, 1933.

H. B. CONOVER Filed Aug. 28, 1931 RELAY TIPHNG RELAY TiME REGULATOR Afl/6H 5. COA/OVER,

Patented Oct. 31, 1933` UNITED ASTATES FOR WETTI'NG CHARGES APPARATUS slur CAR `Hugh B. Conover, Steubenville, Ohio, assignor to Carnegie kSteel Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application This invention relates to a'method and apparatus for wetting blast furnace charges carried by skip cars, one of the objects ybeing to accomplish the above in a speedy and accurate manner.

5 It is to be understood that blast furnace charges must ordinarily first be wetted down before being loaded into the furnace, this being done tovprevent the creation of dust in thev furnace which might lead to undesirable results. Further, it is necessary that just the right, amount of fluid be added to the charge for; if too small, the

charge will not be properly wetted and, if too s large, the moisture content of the furnace gases will rise to an undesirable extent. v

In the drawing:

This is accomplished according to this invention by having a fiuid under pressure conduit 5 positioned to discharge fluidinto the skip car 3, this conduit 5 being connected through a valve 6 to a main fluid supply line 7.

The valve 6 is connected by a system of links and/or levers 8 toy a solenoid 9. links and/ or levers 8 includes a counterweight 8aL which acts to normally bias the valve 6 to closed position. This solenoid is energized by the power line 10 through the adjustable `'til/ne limit relay apparatus 12, having amanually operable starting button 13. n

All of these parts are standard equipmentordinarily supplied by manufacturers of electrical apparatus.` Infuse, theskip car is positioned as yshown and the button 13 is pressed to energize the solenoid 9 so that the valve 6 is opened and fluid begins to flow throughthe conduit 5 under pressure from the supply line 7. The time limit relay apparatus 12 has previously been set so that solenoid 9 will automatically be. deenergized so that the valve 6 will be closed. By kthis means a predetermined ow of fluid may be discharged into the skip car 3 so as to wet the charge carried thereby almost as quickly as the cars can be positioned thereunder. This is a great improvecar. results in much delay and frequently in inaccu- The figure illustrates one example ofV the ap.'V

paratus incorporated in this invention andthe The system of i after a thus predetermined interval of time the August 2s, 1931. serial No. 560,037 2 claims. (c1. 26e-27)' ally operate a valve to fill the tank, from which it Was then allowed to slowly drain into thefskip i The use of this latter apparatus and method rate results caused by the fact that the workman @c may not completely fill the tank. i'

` Although a specific form of this invention has --been shown in accordance with the patent statutesit is not intended'to limit the scope of this l.

invention exactly thereto, except as is dened in c5 the appended claims.

I claim: l 1. In combination Vwith askip' car carrying a .blast furnacecharge, means for discharging fluid intoH said skip car comprising a fluid conduit, a valve for controllingthe fluid supply to said conduit, an operating link for said valve, a pivoted lever connected to said link, a counterweight for rbiasing said pivoted lever, a solenoid constructed and arranged to move said pivoted lever against 1.5 .the biasing influence of said counterweightan adjustable time limit relay apparatus for conf trolling said solenoid and manually operable means for initiating the operation of said time limit relay apparatus. x

2. In combination with a skip car carrying a blast furnace charge, means for discharging uid into said skip car comprising a fluid conduit, a valve for controlling the fluid supply to said conduit, an operating link for said valve, a pivoted :35 lever connected to said link, a counterweight for biasing said pivoted lever in such manner as to close said valve, a solenoid constructed and arranged to move said pivoted lever against the biasing influence of said counterweight, an adjustable time limit relay apparatus for controlling said solenoid and manually operable means for initiating the operation of said timev limit relay apparatus.

B. CONOVER.

ment over themethods and apparatus heretofore K used, which consisted mainly in the vuse of an elevated tank arranged'to discharge into the skip car, it being necessary for a workmanto manu- 

